Yeah as Ashley said I would list it as "Breath of Fire (Breath of Fire Original Soundtrack Special Box)". Or if you just wanted to list the entire box itself that'd be fine really, there's quite a bit of exclusive content on it.

2. Ys I & II Chronicles Original Sound TrackI wasn't entirely sold on this when I first listened, but I now view it as the definitive Ys I & II soundtrack.

3. PinkSweets Original Sound TrackThe best Cave album I've heard, and the best album with all new material from the last 10 years, in my opinion. It is very treble-heavy, but I really enjoy it.

4. The Legend of Dragon SlayersArrangements from Dragon Slayer, Xanadu, Romancia, Legacy of the Wizard, and Sorcerian, in that early game music style I like so much.

5. Guilty Gear X Heavy Rock Tracks ~ The Original Soundtrack of DreamcastThe recording quality is sub-par, but the melodies are dynamite. If they ever did an audiophile-quality remastering of this album, this could shoot up to #1 on my list.

6. Ys -The Oath in Felghana- Original Sound TrackListening to older Ys III albums (apart from the redbook) is just not as palatable after this release.

8. Perfect Collection Ys IV The Dawn of Ys Vol. 1The best of the Ys IV PCs IMO. The first eight tracks are spectacular, and while the rest of the album cools down a little after that, it's still very well done.

9. Game Music GraffitiThree classic Nintendo albums combined into one (excluding the original music on Game Boy Graffiti). If I were to pick one album that showcases Nintendo music from the '80s, this is it.

10. Insector XThis has perhaps the best recording quality of any VGM album I have heard. When I am testing out speakers, I use a track from this album to test the bass.

11. All Over XanaduAnother classic Falcom arrangement. Very similar to The Legend of Dragon Slayers.

12. Perfect Collection SorcerianThe best Sorcerian album ever made (and there were a lot of them). The first disc is probably the strongest of any of the two-disc Falcom Perfect Collections (except Perfect Collection Ys), while the second disc surpasses most of the others as well.

13. Musics from Super Star SoldierThis has both original and arranged game music on it, and both are superb. Classic shooter sounds from the TurboGrafx era.

15. MIDI Power Pro 6 ~Akumajo Dracula X Gekka no Nocturne~We all know the source material on this album is great, and the arrangements on this album are pretty fantastic, too. The Long Library medley alone makes the album.

16. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Hyrule SymphonyI am a sucker for string ensembles, and this album does great work with one.

18. Perfect Selection Konami Shooting Battle IIMy favorite of the Konami Battle albums. To me, it has the cleanest sound and fewer losers than the other albums in the series.

19. Devil Crash / Alien CrushAnother classic TurboGrafx score brought to life. Yes, there is pretty much only one song in the game, but it is infectious.

20. Ys vs Sora no Kiseki Alternative Saga Collective Music FilesA rocking arrangement of Ys and Sora no Kiseki tunes, plus a whole other disc of the best Falcom music ever made? I don't see how I can turn this down.

27. DOUBLE DRAGON II The Revenge28. Ninja Ryukenden II - Ankoku no Jashin KenTwo more O'Bits albums. It's hard for me to choose between them, so I put them both on.

29. Hoshi no Kirby: Yume no Izumi no MonogatariThe original music is OK, but the arrangements are top-shelf.

30. Rom Cassette Disc In SUNSOFTTwo words: BLASTER MASTER.

I regret not putting any Bemani artist albums on the list, as I really enjoy the songs on them. Ryu's Starmine album would probably be in the top 10 otherwise, and dj TAKA's Milestone would also make the top 30. I haven't spent enough time with Tatsh's Material yet to decide if it would belong, and I expect that wac's Ongaku and Y&Co's new albums could also merit consideration. I felt like they were not in keeping with the spirit of the list.

15. MIDI Power Pro 6 ~Akumajo Dracula X Gekka no Nocturne~We all know the source material on this album is great, and the arrangements on this album are pretty fantastic, too. The Long Library medley alone makes the album.

I used to share this opinion but something happened; I'm not sure what. I can remember being really impressed the first time I heard it though...

[b]19. Devil Crash / Alien CrushAnother classic TurboGrafx score brought to life. Yes, there is pretty much only one song in the game, but it is infectious.

I know what song you're talking about, but I'm pretty sure they lifted it from a Helloween song. You can hear it in the opening riff to "I Want Out". I heard the Devil Crash album first, so I thought it was pretty funny. Solid album, I've rarely seen it available.

In general, a lot of the newer Falcom stuff hasn't stuck with me. Not sure if it's the loudness war thing (the clipping in Might Obstacle...oh my god, it's Death Magnetic-bad!) or if it's Jindo's arrangements, but I find myself much preferring the "classic" Falcom era to the newer stuff.

I'm generally not a Cave fan, but the Pinksweets album is easily my favorite album from that camp.

And yeah, Guilty Gear X HRT is conspicuously absent from my list for the recording quality. You can't have rhythm guitars THAT buried in the mix like that. I remember years ago, I would listen to this thing really loud and thought that it was strange that the louder I played it, the more details I'd pick up. Nowadays, that's an immediate sign of a bad recording. It's not the treble-fest that Blazblue's music turned out to be, at least.

I'm listening to all my vgm albums again before coming up with a top 30. In a post I made in a discontinued thread earlier Ibara Original Soundtrack, GötzenDiener Original Game Music, the lunatic: Ibara Remix Tracks, Beyond the Beyond Original Game Soundtrack, and Baroque Original Soundtrack were my top 5 soundtracks of all time.

Of ALL Time??? Well, that makes things a bit difficult, so I'll just say that Final Fantasy VI would deserve to be on such a list, or at least in the discussion. I always loved video game music, but FFVI was the kickstart to my video game collection. 18 years and 300+ CDs later, I'd have to look back and see what would make my personal elite class.

I've decided to dispense with the pomp and circumstance and retitled the poll topic accordingly, as I don't think many people can in seriousness claim to rank the top game soundtracks of all time among the many thousands out there. What I'm looking to discuss are the soundtracks that the members here consider most essential to their own VGM collections.

Those of you who have posted your picks and want to completely take part please don't forget to actually submit your picks to the poll where it can be tallied. Deadline for the first batch of results is in a week.

I've got my own picks mostly sorted and am just waiting to write up some blurbs for each.

1. Xenogears Original Soundtrack- excellent soundtrack; very little filler2. Wild Arms Original Soundtrack- Naruke's work was obviously a big reason why the game was a bit hit with me; I'd love to nominate 2nd Ignition but it has far too many problems3. Tomb Raider (PSX Redbook Audio)- it may be short but Tomb Raider's music is a big part of what the game brings to the table4. Biohazard 2 Original Soundtrack- while some will disagree I see this (and the game) as an improvement over the original5. Panzer Dragoon II Zwei Original Soundtrack- the original game may have had an orchestra but I think it was the second game that really cultivated the Dragoon sound6. Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (NES: Unreleased)- The music for the first NES game is great as well but this is one hell of a sequel; battle pieces could be better but the score is insanely verstile7. Super Metroid - Sound in Action- actually, love the music but I hate Sound in Action8. Mega Man X4- sorry, there is no way in hell I can even nominate Mega Man 2. It's played out...9. Seiken Densetsu ~Legend of Mana~ Original Soundtrack- again an excellent soundtrack with very little filler10. Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version- anyone surprised?11. Doom (SNES: Unreleased)- power up Prince's tunes with the SPC700? Yes please! Too bad two tracks had to be cut due to memory limitations12. Super Castlevania IV (Part of Dracula Best II)- I know this misconstrues the term but I love how SC4's music is prog-like

Your first 3 picks are exceptional, and I have (but have not yet listened to) 4, 28, and 29. I remember some guy I traded with a year ago had hundreds of millions of soundtracks, but not Eretzvaju. He asked me to look for it, and, sure enough, I managed to get a copy. I was very shocked by that one and I can understand the 20,000 yen asking prices. I heard Shutokou Battle years ago and was impressed with it. Bullet Soul is one I have had for a while, but finally listened to this weekend. Honestly, Bullet Soul should've been on my top 10 list for 2011. It's just perfect.

I regret not putting any Bemani artist albums on the list, as I really enjoy the songs on them. Ryu's Starmine album would probably be in the top 10 otherwise, and dj TAKA's Milestone would also make the top 30. I haven't spent enough time with Tatsh's Material yet to decide if it would belong, and I expect that wac's Ongaku and Y&Co's new albums could also merit consideration. I felt like they were not in keeping with the spirit of the list.

I'm surprised to not see Perfect Selection Twinbee on your top 30. Also, you might want to check out this one for some great Blaster Master arrangements (it's worth the high price): http://vgmdb.net/album/28973

Here are the albums that had been on my top 30, but which got replaced this time:

Gradius Arcade Soundtracks - I still love the Gradius soundtrack, but it is a little on the short side.Perfect Collection Ys - For a very long time, this was probably my favorite VGM album. I just think that the Ys I & II Chronicles OST does a better job with the material. In addition, there are a few songs on Chronicles that aren't on PC Ys (the most noteworthy being "Tension").Eternal Arcadia OST - There are some themes that still really move me, but there is a lot of ambient music that's just so-so.BeForU - Still a fun album to listen to, but I need to be in the right mood for it now.Falcom Neo-Classic - I may be the only person who prefers the second disc from this album. It's still very good; I just don't see myself reaching for it very often.Rockman II - The Power Fighters - A few years ago, this clearly outclassed every Mega Man album out there. Now, there is some heady competition.Katamari Damashii Fortissimo - The good songs are great, but the bad songs are awful.Zwei!! Super Arrange Version - I don't find myself liking this nearly as much as I used to.Perfect Selection Twinbee - Half the songs are dynamite, but when I'm listening to the other half, I get really anxious. I don't like that feeling.All Sounds of Sorcerian - Really, this was mainly on there for the first and last songs, which are really fun to listen to.Star Ocean: The Second Story Fantasy Megamix - I still like this one a lot, but others have taken its place.JDK Band - I think I've just overdosed on this one.

Your first 3 picks are exceptional, and I have (but have not yet listened to) 4, 28, and 29. I remember some guy I traded with a year ago had hundreds of millions of soundtracks, but not Eretzvaju. He asked me to look for it, and, sure enough, I managed to get a copy. I was very shocked by that one and I can understand the 20,000 yen asking prices. I heard Shutokou Battle years ago and was impressed with it. Bullet Soul is one I have had for a while, but finally listened to this weekend. Honestly, Bullet Soul should've been on my top 10 list for 2011. It's just perfect.

Eretzvaju (the music) is kick ass, but it's a loudness war casualty for me. The music itself is great, but difficult to listen to because it is recorded too loud. It's one of the first albums I own where I always wondered why I couldn't get further into it.

Crash wrote:

Gradius Arcade Soundtracks - I still love the Gradius soundtrack, but it is a little on the short side.Perfect Collection Ys - For a very long time, this was probably my favorite VGM album. I just think that the Ys I & II Chronicles OST does a better job with the material. In addition, there are a few songs on Chronicles that aren't on PC Ys (the most noteworthy being "Tension").Eternal Arcadia OST - There are some themes that still really move me, but there is a lot of ambient music that's just so-so.BeForU - Still a fun album to listen to, but I need to be in the right mood for it now.Falcom Neo-Classic - I may be the only person who prefers the second disc from this album. It's still very good; I just don't see myself reaching for it very often.Rockman II - The Power Fighters - A few years ago, this clearly outclassed every Mega Man album out there. Now, there is some heady competition.Katamari Damashii Fortissimo - The good songs are great, but the bad songs are awful.Zwei!! Super Arrange Version - I don't find myself liking this nearly as much as I used to.Perfect Selection Twinbee - Half the songs are dynamite, but when I'm listening to the other half, I get really anxious. I don't like that feeling.All Sounds of Sorcerian - Really, this was mainly on there for the first and last songs, which are really fun to listen to.Star Ocean: The Second Story Fantasy Megamix - I still like this one a lot, but others have taken its place.JDK Band - I think I've just overdosed on this one.

Same for me on JDK Band, although I greatly credit Kishimoto and co. for starting me off on great 80's metal. Ditto also for Perfect Selection Twinbee...Inbetween the great, poppy/peppy tracks, there are some real clunkers in there. Most of the non-Battle Perfect Selections have a number of tracks that just scream "delete me". Katamari is great...until I get to the whole second half of the album and even then, I've always just approached it as a nice collection of fun songs. I've sampled some BeforU and the one track that sticks out is Love Shine. The synth on the original Zwei soundtrack annoys the hell out of me, so I tend to use the Super Arrange as an alternate, but it's a sparse listen. Have to actually be in the mood for it. Star Ocean Megamix is always satisfying for a listen, but it's never really been a contender and usually ends up overlooked. Kinda funny how some albums end up like that.

This was not easy to do! Just an unofficial list in alphabetical order for now. Will actually answer the poll after I rank them. Only factored in albums that I currently own and left out solo works like Akira Yamaoka's iFUTURELIST and Kukeiha Club's HOPE.

Just a notice that I am totally for real tallying the poll this weekend. Seriously, I mean it this time.

It'd be nice to have a few more voters in there so you regulars please take a few minutes to punch in your picks if you're interested. You can easily tweak the order or post your picks to the forum sometime later by just clicking the "Answer Poll" link again.

Haha I can't stress the This was not easy to do! part enough. I didn't wanna saturate my list with certain series (Sonic, Silent Hill, Final Fantasy) so I chose a few from each. Sonic Gens was on my list at one point but it got bumped out for some reason. Tried to keep my top 30 as diverse as I could.

That,... was tough. Still not happy about the order. Mostly based it off my current listening habits and not my overall collection. Left off original and fanmade stuff because I know no one cares about that here.